Consider two people, one on the earth's surface at the equator and the other at the north pole. Which has a larger centripetal acceleration?

Question

cortana · Answer

I believe the answer would be that you would have greater centripetal acceleration at the equator because it has a greater circumference of rotation. Using the formula (delta V)/(delta T)= (centripetal acceleration)    We know that the T would be the same for both because the time of a day (the time it takes for the earth to rotate one full time) is the same no matter where you are on earth, however the distance that you travel depends greatly on your location on the earth, this means that there would have to be an increase in velocity the closer you are to the equator (: I hope this helps and i hope im right lol

agent0smith · Answer

^that's right. At the pole, your centripetal acceleration is near zero - since you aren't really travelling in a circle at all. At the equator, you're travelling around a very large circle.

osprey · Answer

Interesting question, maybe. may also be worth saying that the gravitational acceleration, although slightly different, is not as drastically so as the centripetal one. After all, it's gravity that keeps things on the planet.